I am incensed after reading the plans to wipe out El Segundo Barrio in El Paso. The more I think and read about it, the angrier I get. It makes me think of historical houses on the North side of downtown. Why don’t they wipe them out? What is so special about them that they can stay pero the south side gets wiped out?
Please, please, please help a sister out and sign it and pass along the info.
Please, please, please help a sister out and sign it and pass along the info.
Hello everyone,
I am writing to let you know that there are efforts here, spearheaded by developers (the Paso del Norte Group) and politicians, to demolish 128 acres of el Segundo Barrio, the second oldest Mexicano barrio in El Paso, an area of critical importance to Chicano history and a living community. For a hundred years or more, el Segundo has served as the port of entry to thousands of Mexicano immigrants. It was in this barrio that Mariano Azuela published the first great novel of the Mexican Revolution, Los de Abajo. It was in this neighborhood that Teresita Urrea, la Santa de Cabora, lived and healed thousands in the 1890s. The barrio is rich with Mexicana/o and Chicana/o history.
As scholars of Chicano studies, our voices are needed to stop the destruction of the barrio. We have seen this type of destruction before, whether it be Olvera Street in the 1930s or Chavez Ravine in the 1950s. We can't let this keep happening.
Please visit the website of Paso del Sur and help save the barrio. Please spread the word.
http://www.pasodelsur.com/
thanks,
Yolanda Leyva
3 comments:
it seems like its always the south side of anything that gets treated this way. good luck. it does sound like a place rich in history.
I was baptized at the Sacred Heart in the Segundo Barrio and have family photo albums of myself as an infant living in the tenements.
Having said that, I don't share your romantic view.
The Segundo holds nothing but "pobreza y tristeza." The renovation of that area in El Paso is long overdue.
I grew up in El Paso and I unfortunately never appreciated the Segundo Barrio until I came to college. The Segundo Barrio is the place where my dad and tios grew up. Where my friend's parents grew up and instead of working hard to improve it, they want to demolish it. There is a Teen Crisis Pregnancy Center there and I would be very angry to see that girls my age would have no where to go. Even if they are willing to provide housing for two years, I still believe it would not be enough. It is because of my new awareness of the Chicano Movement, and Chicana Feminism that I decided to double major in Mexican American Studies. El Segundo Barrio needs more people who know the "system" and are willing to defend it with all of their hearts!
Post a Comment